Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the uses of a pharmaceutical formulation, which comprises (Z)-butylidenephthalide, especially to the uses of the pharmaceutical formulation in treating pancreatic cancer.
Descriptions of the Related Art
The pancreas is a soft, elongated gland located in the back of the abdominal cavity of a living body. In general, the pancreas of a human has a length ranging from about 15 cm to 20 cm, a width of about 2.5 cm, and a weight ranging from about 75 grams to 100 grams. “Pancreatic cancer” refers to a malignant tumor that is generated from pancreatic cells. Ductal adenocarcinomas accounts for 90% of pancreatic cancers, wherein about 80% occurs within the head of the pancreas gland.
Pancreatic cancer tends to occur in the elderly, and the incidence rate in males is twice as high as that in females. Early pancreatic cancer usually does not show obvious symptoms, but along with the gradual growth of pancreatic tumors, patients may show symptoms of abdominal pain, back pain, jaundice, weight loss, and diarrhea. In addition, typical pancreatic cancer appears fibrosis and adhesion to surrounding tissue. Because pancreatic cancer cells often penetrate into peripheral nerves and/or invade blood vessels, almost 90% of pancreatic cancer is not treatable through surgery. Pancreatic cancer has a poor prognosis, and the five-year survival rate is less than 5%.
Current clinical therapy for pancreatic cancer includes surgery, chemotherapy and irradiation therapy, etc. In general, when the condition of a patient of pancreatic cancer allows, surgery is the first line treatment in increasing the survival rate. As for the chemotherapy, a single medicament, such as the anti-metabolites medicaments of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and gemcitabine, or a combination of various medicaments can be chosen based on the clinical stage of pancreatic cancer. However, the therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapy is low. Traditional chemotherapy is almost ineffective in the case of pancreatic cancer recurrence. Irradiation therapy is usually used as an adjuvant therapy during the treatment for pancreatic cancer because this therapy cannot cure unresectable pancreatic tumor. Therefore, there is still a need for a medicament for treating pancreatic cancer.
The inventors of the present invention found that Z-butylidenephthalide (Z-BP) can inhibit the growth of pancreatic cancer cells, and thus, can be used to treat pancreatic cancer. In particular, a controlled release dosage form containing Z-butylidenephthalide can be implanted into the area with pancreatic cancer cells after surgery, to achieve a locally stable high dose of Z-butylidenephthalide. As a result, Z-butylidenephthalide can penetrate into surrounding pancreatic tissue to kill “invasive residual cancer cells,” to achieve the desired therapeutic effect.